


The Final Nail

by SailorChibi



Series: Imagine Bucky and Tony [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Cuddling, Fear of Abandonment, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pranks, pranks gone wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 18:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9455423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: It was just supposed to be a harmless prank. But now Clint was in the hospital and everyone was furious at Tony, and Tony was convinced he was going to end up alone again.Prompt A (paraphrased): Tony and Bucky get into a fight; Bucky says he's done and storms out, so angry he doesn't hear Tony pleading with him to come back. Bucky returns later, now calm, to find Tony having a panic attack.combined withPrompt B (paraphrased): the team gets in a fight and everyone is giving Tony the silent treatment and/or snapping at him. Tony's anxiety takes over. That night Bucky finds Tony terrified to be alone and convinced that the team hates him now.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt A in its unaltered form: Tony fucks up. He forgets something important or him and Bucky just get in a fight. But anyways, Bucky is furious at him and as they fight Bucky knows that he will say something he will later regret, so he just says that he's done and he storms out of the room. And he is so mad that he doesn't even hear Tony's desperate pleads of 'i'm so sorry, no, no, please don't leave'. Buck comes back sometime later, now calm, to find Tony having a panic attack, because he thought Bucky had left him.
> 
> combined with
> 
> Prompt B in its unaltered form: avengers getting into a fight and they are all mad at tony, like furious about something. at first tony is super sad, but thinks that it will all cool down and it will be okay. but next day they all either give him silent treatment or snap at him. and tony's anxiety takes over. that night bucky finds tony curled up somewhere, shaking and unable to stop sobbing, because he is sure they all really hate him now. and he loves them, and is completly terrified of being alone again.
> 
> Second prompt(s) filled for the [Imagine Tony and Bucky](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/imaginetonyandbucky/) blog on tumblr. I felt like those two prompts went together pretty well.

There were few things worse than Captain America's Stare of Disappointment™, but Tony had just found one of them. It was the look on Bucky's face right now, a weird combination of anger and sadness, like Tony was too pathetic for words. But this was Bucky, so -

"Is everything a fucking joke to you?" Bucky asked. In spite of his expression his voice was flat, devoid of emotion, and that was terrifying and Tony knew he should back off, stand down already, but the cocky smile stayed on his face and the glib words rolled right out.

"I don't see anything to be serious, Buck-o. All I did was play a small prank. Harmless, really. I'm not sure what everyone is so worked up about."

"Your prank nearly got Clint killed!"

Tony's heart skipped a beat, the panic hot in the back of his throat, but all he said was, "That's really more Clint's fault than mine. He's the one who grabbed the arrows I had specifically set aside for SHIELD's agents. There's a reason I keep the piles separate."

Bucky shook his head. "I thought you were better than that."

That stung. Tony scowled. "He's fine. What difference does it make?"

The look that Bucky shot him was full of disbelief. It was a look that made Tony feel cold right down to his bones, and it finally kicked in that he had crossed a line. Or rather, jumped so far over the line that he couldn't even see the line anymore. He opened his mouth, some vague thought of apologizing flashing through his head, but Bucky held up a hand to forestall whatever he'd been about to say.

"Don't. I just - if you really have to ask that, then I'm done with you." He turned on his heel and started to storm out of the room, following the path that Steve and Natasha had taken not three minutes before. Just long enough for Tony to ruin everything, apparently.

All of Tony's bravado collapsed in the span of two seconds, and he found himself whispering, "Wait, Bucky, I'm sorry. Please come -"

The door slammed shut behind him.

So that was it. This was the tipping point, the final nail in the coffin, that made it so that Tony Stark was no longer welcome as an Avenger. Tony shouldn't have been surprised. He should've known that this was going to happen sooner or later.

But... somewhere during the four years he'd been on the team, he'd stopped anticipating the inevitable day that this would happen and started thinking that he'd found a home and a family. The realization that he'd lost all of it in the span of a single day was a harsh blow. And all because he'd created a batch of arrows that would purposefully backfire on SHIELD's new recruits when fired, and Clint had grabbed them by accident on the way out the door to a call.

If Pepper were here and not in France, she'd tell him that he could either apologize or run away. 

Surprisingly, Tony did neither. Or at least, he didn't leave the tower. He did retreat to his own floor and take a very long, very hot shower, hoping that would warm him up enough to stop the shivering.

It didn't.

He sank to the floor of the shower and curled up into a little ball, shaking from head to toe, until the water started to run cold. The tower had an endless supply of hot water, which meant that was JARVIS's way of getting him out of the shower and into some clothes. It worked, sort of: Tony crawled out of the tub and, soaking wet, fell face-first into his bed. He curled up in the blankets that smelled of Bucky and hid.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the dark. "I'm sorry. Please don't leave me."

He slept in fits and starts, but kept waking up. He couldn't stop thinking about Natasha's glare, the silent treatment from Bruce, Steve's cold, disappointed lecture, Sam's quiet 'not cool, Tony' comment, the worry lines around Coulson's forehead, or Thor's silent shake of the head. All of them with the same eyes, practically screaming their frustration and disgust, all of them staring at him.

And then there was Bucky, walking away and slamming the door behind him. That hurt worst of all.

Maybe he should do them all a favor and just leave. Except Tony didn't want to. This, the team, was his home. And he'd fucked it all up just by being himself. So maybe they would be the ones to leave, and he'd be alone again.

The panic that had been steadily creeping up on him all day finally surged forward. Tony gasped for breath, pushing and shoving at the blankets until some fresh air crept into his cocoon. It didn't help; if anything, it just made things worse, knowing that the air was right there and he still couldn't breathe. He squeezed his eyes shut, but all he could see was Bucky's furious expression.

"Tony? JARVIS said you - Tony, whoa, hey. Breathe."

Bucky? That didn't make any sense. The soothing sound of his boyfriend's voice was at odds with the fury Tony was seeing in his mind's eye. He wrenched his eyes open, gasping, when hands touched his shoulders.

"It's me, doll. I'm right here."

"You left," Tony panted. "You all - I'm alone - " His throat closed up.

"What, no. No, you're not alone. I'm here. Everyone's here. Tony -" Bucky hauled him up, hugging him tightly. Tony clung to him, wrapping his arms around Bucky's midsection and clinging until his forearms ached. But he didn't want to let go, for fear that Bucky would vanish.

"I'm sorry," he said, tasting salty tears when he spoke. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll apologize to Clint - I'll do anything - just please don't go."

"Tony." Bucky sighed. "I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it. I was angry. Everyone's angry. But we're not leaving you."

Tony pressed his ear to Bucky's chest, still shaking. But with the sound of Bucky's heartbeat in his ears, he didn't feel like the panic was going to swallow him. "Promise?"

"Yeah, baby. I promise."

**Author's Note:**

> Note: in my mind, Clint turns out fine. Tony apologizes to him, and Clint accepts it. They mutually agree to scale back their prank wars.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
